Every spring, the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority hosts guided hikes on the weekends to view wildflowers and the Bay checkerspot butterfly at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve. The 1,859-acre preserve features five miles of trails, including almost four miles designated as part of the Bay Ridge Trail network, that weave through the preserve.
Most of Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge is a unique serpentine grassland habitat that supports rare species including the Bay checkerspot, an endemic and federally threatened butterfly. Also endemic to the Coyote Valley area, the Santa Clara Valley dudleya grows on serpentine outcrops in the preserve.
Spring wildflower hikes
As with many preserves featuring extensive grasslands, Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge is a popular destination for viewing springtime wildflower blooms in Northern California. To protect the sensitive habitat, Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge is only open on weekends during the months of March, April, and May and visitors may only enter the preserve on hikes led by docents.
To join a guide wildflower hike, the Open Space Authority requires visitors to register (free) via Eventbrite. There are 5, 3, and 2 mile tours available each Saturday and Sunday during the restricted spring wildflower season.
For my trip, I choose the five-mile guided tour. Each tour is limited to ten hikers and is accompanied by three volunteers. Our lead docent was Rick who was both knowledgeable and friendly throughout the hike. Our hike started with us sanitizing the bottoms of our shoes to prevent any visitors from bringing any unwanted seeds and pathogens into the sensitive preserve.
Bay Checkerspot Trail
The first part of the wildflower hike features an ascent up the Bay Checkerspot Trail. This hand cut trail is a fairly new single-track compact dirt path that winds up through the serpentine grassland that leads to a gate where the preserve has cattle grazing. As we hiked, our docent pointed out and named the various wildflowers that were blooming along the trail.
Native wildflowers seen along the hike
Here are some of the native wildflowers blooming among the grasses at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve in late March.
Tidy tips
Tidy tips have bicolor blooms with a yellow center and white tips. Tidy tips are a source of nectar for the Bay checkerspot butterfly.
Buttercups
These bright yellow flowers feature 7-17 petals at the end of a thin, leafless stem.
California poppy
The California poppy was designated the state flower in 1903. These brightly colored flowers naturally range from yellow to orange to even red. Poppies are one of the earliest flowers to start blooming.
Blue-eyed grass and Jeweled Onion
Horned larks and Tule Elk
It wasn’t just native wildflowers that made the guided tour interesting at the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve. As we ascended along the Tule Elk trail, meadowlarks and horned larks could be heard and seen.
The horned lark is the only native lark in North America. These larks can be found in the serpentine grasslands of Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve. Horned larks are named after the tiny feathers that extend past the back of the heads on males.
Western meadowlarks, which are not larks despite their name, can also be seen in this area. The western meadowlark is related to the New World blackbirds.
Also present at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve are herds of Tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes). This subspecies of elk is found only in California and the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve is one area in the state where these ungulates can be seen.
Grazing cattle at Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve
Cattle grazing is a commons sight in the grasslands at the preserve.
It may seem a bit contradictory to have cows grazing in a sensitive serpentine grassland. Heavy vehicle traffic along U.S. Highway 101 sends high amounts of smog that settles onto the Máyyan ‘Ooyákma – Coyote Ridge preserve. Nitrogen from the smog fertilizes the grasses, accelerating the growth of the taller nonnative species. Left unchecked, this growth would crowd out the shorter native grasses and flowers that many species in the area like burrowing owls and the Bay checkerspot depend on. The cattle, which favor grazing nonnative grasses, help to keep invasive species from outcompeting native grasses by chewing them down.
Mount Hamilton Thistle
The back end of the wildflower hike features a steep descent down to a section of freshwater seep where a large, protected thicket of Mt. Hamilton thistle is growing. Mt. Hamilton thistle (Cirsium fontinale var. campylon) is a rare plant that only grows in a few areas in California, mostly in serpentine areas near sources of water.
